Large-area electronics, based mostly on thin-film amorphous silicon, is under rapid development. 40.times.120 cm.sup.2 solar panels [J. Macneil, A. E. Delahoy, F. Kampas, E. Eser, A. Varvar, and F. Ellis, Jr., "A 10 MWp a-Si:H module processing line", in Conf. Rec. 21st IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conf., IEEE, New York 1990, pp. 1501-1505] and 21-inch-diagonal active-matrix liquid-crystal displays (AMLCDs) [M. Hijikigawa and H. Take, "Future prospects of large-area direct-view LCDs", 1995 SID Internat. Symp., Digest of Technical Papers, SID, Santa Ana, Calif., 1995, pp. 147-149] illustrate this new era of semiconductor technology. Much of the present-day manufacture of thin-film electronics is derived from integrated circuit fabrication. A principal factor in the widespread use of integrated circuits has been their low cost, which is a consequence of their high functional density achieved by miniaturization. Unfortunately, the path of miniaturization by definition cannot be taken to reduce the cost-per-function of large-area electronics [S. Morozumi, "Issues in Manufacturing Active-Matrix LCDS", in Seminar Lecture Notes, Vol. II, SID Symposium, Boston, Mass., May 18-22, 1992, pp. F-3/1-50; SID, Playa del Rey, Calif., 1992] and [W. O' Mara, "AMLCD manufacturing" in Seminar Lecture Notes, Vol. I, SID Symposium, San Jose, Calif., Jun. 13-17, 1994, pp. M-3/1-40; SID, Santa Ana, Calif., 1994]. Instead, new materials and processing techniques are needed, such as metal foil [H. Morimoto and M. Izu, "Mass production technology in a roll-to-roll process", in JARECT, Vol. 16, Amorphous Semiconductor Technologies and Devices, Y. Hamakawa, ed., Ohmsha, Tokyo 1984, pp. 212-221.] and plastic substrates [K. Nakatani, M. Yano, K. Suzuki, and H. Okaniwa, "Properties of microcrystalline p-doped Si:H films", J. Non-Cryst. Solids, Vol. 59/60, pp. 827-830, 1983.], as well as high deposition rates [H. Curtins, N. Wyrsch and A. V. Shah, "High-rate deposition of amorphous hydrogenated silicon: effect of plasma excitation frequency", Electronics Letters, Vol. 23, pp. 228-230, 1987.].
The photolithographic patterning techniques used in current AMLCD manufacturing were developed for the manufacturing of integrated circuits on silicon wafers, and are correspondingly expensive. Typically, six to nine thin film layers are used in the manufacturing of the backplane circuit, with photolithography required at each step [W. O' Mara, Ibid]. Exposure by stepper requires stitching [S. Morozumi, Ibid], which is slow.
In order to decrease the price of AMCLDS, new alternative and cheaper methods of manufacturing are required.